State Library of New South Wales

PLNRC Meeting

13 June 2012

File 31933

State Library of New South Wales

Public Library Network Research CommitteeMeeting

Minutes

13June 2012

Coles Room

Present

Adele Casey, (Director, Community and Development Services, Bland Shire); Frances Sims (Chair. Director, Public Library and Community Learning Services, State Library of NSW; Linda Horswell, (Manager, MosmanLibrary), Jill Webb, (Manager, Ryde Library Services), John Bayliss, (Director, Macquarie Regional Library), Cameron Morley, (Manager, Funding and Advisory Services, Public Library Services, State Library of NSW), Leanne Perry (Consultant, Public Library Services, State Library of NSW(Minutes)

Apologies

Chris Jones, (Manager, Great Lakes Library Services);Michelle Mashman, (Manager, Canterbury City Library)

Minutes of the last meeting
The following amendment at Item 9- Other Business was noted: in June 2012 John Bayliss will also finish his term on the PLNRC.
The minutes of the meeting of 14 March 2012 were confirmed and adopted.
Business arising
People Places is currently in the final phases of design and will go to the printer once this is completed.
The User Satisfaction Survey is now complete and will be available on the State Library website within the next week.
The next phase of the Stock Quality Health Check is now underway. The second phase of the project will develop a tool for assessing breadth and depth of Children’s and young adult collections.
Ross Balharrie is currently developing a framework for developing a space on the NSW.net webpage for hosting information and discussions relating to E books.
The Data Visualisation trial with Manly Library is now underway. Changes at Trove mean that the project can draw from both local data and trove data where photographs are hosted to create data visualisation for photographic collections. / Action
Leanne Perry
2. / RFID Cost Benefit Analysis
The draft Statement of Works (SOW) for the Cost Benefit analysis of RFID was tabled and discussed. The following amendments to the draft were agreed to

exploration of future applications of RFID in public libraries is identified to the scope of works
the effect of variables such as self check, and total/partial implementation of RFID are identified within the scope of work
value in terms of Work Health and safety are identified within the scope of work

Once the amendments have been made the SOW will circulated to all committee members for final comment.
A recent survey undertaken in the UK explored the use and value of RFID in libraries was identified as useful background material for the consultant. Link to the survey to circulated to all Committee member. / Leanne Perry
Leanne Perry
4. / Public Library Statistics 2012
Cameron outlined the following trends identified in the recently published 2011 Public Library Statistics.

Borrowers as a percentage of the population is 46%, which is unchanged from 2009/10 (46%)
Number of library visits- 35,823,822 or 4.9 per capita, is down from 2009/10 (37,008,871 or 5.14 per capita)
Library material held by NSW public libraries - 13,504,391 items or 1.85 per capita which is slightly down from 2009/10 (13,715,862 or 1.88 per capita)
Percentage of collection purchased in the last 5 years - 47.75% which has improved from 2009/10 (46.64%)
Circulation/loans - 48,911,125 or 6.7 per capitawhich is lower than 2009/10 (50,585,814 or 7.04 per capita)
Stock turnover of total NSW collections - 4.066 which is slightly down on 2009/10 (4.148)

The changes in trends highlight the need to consider new key performance indicators which include use of digital library services and programs. The committee suggested that a letter is sent to the network to encourage better reporting of digital library use such as website hits and digitised items.
The committee also agreed that future analysis of public library statistical data should emphasis trends over a ten year period rather than annual changes. / Cameron Morley
Cameron Morley
5. / Living Learning Libraries Update 2012
The 2012 update of Living Learning Libraries is currently underway.
The committee discussed benefits and issues with the current methodology for developing standards which uses annual reported statistical data for each standard. The committee considered an alternative methodology which would use an average of data over a three year period for each standard.
The committee agreed that the current methodology should be continued as it reflects the changes in trends across the network from year to year. It was recommended that the methodology be reviewed in 2014 after a 5 year data collection period has been completed.
Given the increasing importance of electronic and digital library use the committee recommended the development of a new standard around measuring digital library use to be included in Living Learning Libraries 2012. / Leanne Perry
6. / Measuring electronic resources use and access
Leanne tabled a document identifying possible key performance indicators for measuring electronic use in libraries. A number of background documents were consulted in the development of the options for measuring electronic library use, these included:

The Beta benchmark framework 2012 / Library edge .org
Statistical Survey of Metropolitan Libraries Section 2010 /IFLA
NSW Public Library Annual Statistical Survey results
The Concept of electronic Resource Usage and Libraries by Grogg and Fleming-May in Library Technology ReportsSeptember 2010

Leanne reported that currently 42 of 99 Library services report website visits in the annual statistical return. While some libraries report hits or views instead of visits, website visits are widely accepted as a key performance indicator in website usage. 30 libraries do not report any website activity in the statistical return.
The Committee identified the following key performance indicators for measuring electronic use in terms of State wide reporting

No. of workstations connected to the internet
No. of Public Access Internet sessions
No. of hours used
No. of wireless sessions
No. wireless hours used
Website visits
No. of fulltext journal titles
No. of fulltext book titles
No. fulltext video titles
No. database searches
No. of fulltext downloads
No. digitised items
No. downloads of digitised items

All of the above data elements are currently included in the annual statistical survey. The committee suggested a number of strategies to improve reporting and analysis of this data-

The State Library encourage greater reporting of the above data sets in a letter to all NSW public library services
Clearer guidelines are provided on some areas of reporting. Eg consortia purchased ebook collections, who reports the ownership and circulation statistics of these collections
A standard on electronic resource use is developed and included in the next edition of Living Learning Libraries.

While other measures such as bounce rates and average time spent on the website were considered important performance measures at a local level they were not considered useful for developing a state wide picture of electronic resources use.
Leanne will circulate the link to the Beta Benchmark framework 2012 / Cameron Morley
Leanne Perry
Cameron Morley and Leanne Perry
Leanne Perry
7. / Submissions to the PLNRC
A submission from PLNSW examining the career paths of librarians in the network was received. The submission will be circulated out of session for comment. / Leanne Perry
8. / Other Business
Cameron thanked John, Chris and Michelle for their time and significant contribution during their time on the committee.
The State Library of NSW is conducting a research project to establish the social/cultural, economic and environmental value of public libraries in NSW. This research builds on the Enriching Communities: the value of public libraries in NSW study conducted in 2008.The NSW public library network will be invited to participate.
9. / 2012 meetings
12 September, 12.30-3pm, Coles Room, State Library
28 November, 12.30-3pm, Coles Room, State Library / All

Public Library Network Research Committee